Dog Tasered 3 Times Due to Address Mix Up

A mistaken address last week ended up with a dog being tasered three times by local a sheriff’s deputy. Paige, a 6-year-old white mixed terrier, disappeared after she was tasered shortly after noon Sept. 28, says her family. Paige returned on her own about 10 p.m. the next night. When Paige came home she was pretty traumatized and is now very skittish as well as having burns on her skin from where the taser attached.

Paige now will not go out the doggie door after dark or out to potty without someone outside with her. The vet gave her a special collar that is supposed to help calm her by emitting a low frequency noise as well as some calming medication. It seems that she is starting to calm down a bit now that she has been home for about a week but she is still not acting like herself.

It all started when the Nowlans were not home, a deputy went there looking for an individual he had a warrant for, but he went to the wrong address he went to Jones Drive instead of Jones Road. Paige was home alone at the time and give access to go outside through her doggy door which she did when she heard the car arrive. The family insists there has never been an issue with Paige in the six years that they have had her. The family says that they have had deliveries from UPS, Federal Ex and of course the mailman with no incident and daily visits to their property by a natural gas well tender.

Paige is a family dog she rides on the tractor in the buggy, she goes out on the boat and swimming with the family in the the pool. She has never so much as hinted at being upset by their 6-month-old grandson when he visits.

Authorities say that use of the taser on the dog isn’t being questioned because it is at the discretion of the officer as events around him unfold. There is however an internal investigation of the circumstances that followed the Tasering. According to the sheriff’s office report, the incident occurred at 12:10 p.m. Sept. 28, but the Nowlans did not find out about it until 6 p.m. when they arrived home. A call to the sheriff’s office was not returned until 7:45 that night. Since Paige had been gone for so many hours already the family tried looking everywhere and for 36 hours they tried to find their dog. Eventually Paige came home on her own very upset and with untreated burns on her body from the taser. The veterinarian bills are being paid for by the Sheriff’s office because of the mix up with addresses.

They have spoken with authorities and are trying to figure out something so that this can never happen again starting with speaking to code enforcers to try and get their street name changed because the street leads only to their house and this is the 5th time that they know of that law enforcement have come to their property by mistake. They now have a sign up on their property that says

“For dog’s safety, toot horn!! Do not exit vehicle.”

Its not up to protect people from the dog but to protect the dog from people. It seems like more and more often police are shooting or tasering dogs that approach them on people’s properties. These aren’t dogs that are off their property wandering the street causing havoc these are family pets at their home going to investigate who came to visit. Friendly dogs will run over to complete strangers to say hello tails wagging hoping to get pet or play. Its a big problem that when approaching homes police have their guns drawn or tasers out and ready so instead of stopping for a second to really evaluate the situation they point and shoot. At least this time it was a taser and the dog was in good enough health and big enough to withstand the 50,000 volts of electricity that was sent through her body 3 times but that is not always the case.